Kerry and Mayo minors want to be curtain raisers

KERRY and Mayo have asked Croke Park’s GAC to bring their All-Ireland Minor football semi-final forward a week to August 28.

They are scheduled to meet the following Sunday, but believe it makes more sense to play as a curtain-raiser to the All-Ireland SFC semi-final at Croke Park involving counties from their provinces.

The other minor semi-final between Down and Offaly is slated as a curtain raiser to the August 28th All-Ireland SFC semi-final, but discussions are likely on a possible switch of venue for that game. One solution is to play the Down v. Offaly MFC semi on September 4th, ahead of the second of the senior semi-finals involving Ulster and Leinster counties.

However, GAA president Sean Kelly has already pledged that the Tommy Murphy Cup final will be played at Croke Park before that game. A GAA source said: “Because Down and Offaly minors have already played at Croke Park in their respective provincial finals, there is a view that, out of fairness, Kerry and Mayo should also play there before one of them appears in the final.”

The scheduling crux has arisen after the four provincial minors winners all crashed out of the Championship at the quarter-final stage. If Down and Offaly agree, their match could be played on the last weekend of August.